Tag Archives: dream of things

Dream of Things has issued a last call for submissions of stories for a travel anthology to be published later this year. Stories can be humorous or serious. The deadline is October 15, 2011.For details about the type of story we want, see the Dream of Things workshop page. For more details about the travel anthology, click HERE. You can also read excerpts from Saying Goodbye, our first anthology, by clicking HERE.

I started Dream of Things two years ago to publish anthologies of creative nonfiction that are “short and deep” — somewhere between the Chicken Soup series and Best American Essays. In addition to the travel anthology, Dream of Things is accepting submissions for anthologies on the following topics: Holiday Stories, Coffee Shop Stories, Stories of Forgiveness, Stories About Great Teachers, Advice and Making Waves/Role Models. For more information, click HERE.

Be sure to check out publishing opportunities with Publishing Syndicate, too. The owners of Publishing Syndicate are real pros. Dahlynn and Ken McKowen have lengthy resumes when it comes to writing, ghostwriting, editing services and publishing. In fact, Dahlynn was coauthor of several Chicken Soup for the Soul books, and series creators Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen called her “one of their most trusted coauthors.” So Dahlynn knows anthologies. Dahlynn and Ken have launched a new series of personal nonfiction called “Not Your Mother’s Book,” and they are accepting submission on 25 topics! To learn more about the “Not Your Mother’s Book” series and other Publishing Syndicate projects, clickHERE.

Over the last few months, FZ has featured some very helpful and insightful posts about social media in general and about Twitter in particular. If you missed them the first time around, be sure to check them out now:

Today, I’d like to add to the conversation, not by sharing my own (very limited) knowledge, but by introducing you to Lynn Serafinn, a real expert when it comes to Twitter, social media and online marketing.

With Lynn’s help, I went from no Twitter account nine months ago to 5,600 followers for @TheNoteProject on Twitter today. Lynn herself has 50,000 followers across four Twitter accounts.

What good is 5,600 followers on Twitter? It’s been very important to me. My goal was to spread the word about the Note Project, a campaign to inspire people to write more notes of appreciation. My contacts on Twitter led to media interviews, posts and guest posts on various blogs and websites, and free gifts to Note Project participants by people and organizations that support the Note Project. In fact, more than half of the Note Project’s 50 sponsors came via contacts on Twitter.

What is the secret to Lynn’s success? It’s not as difficult as you think – and fortunately for us, Lynn recently shared all of her secrets in a three-part series on her Spirit Authors website. Click below to read all three segments – and start building up your community on Twitter today.

“10 Tips to Get Followers on Twitter and Why You Should” by Lynn Serafinn

Mike O’Mary is founder of the Note Project, a campaign to make the world a million times better by inspiring 1 million people to write notes of appreciation, and of Dream of Things, a book publisher and online book store.

First things first…I recently asked folks to take a one-question survey to share what they like about freelancing (see “The Lavish Lifestyle of a Freelancer” on May 18).

Here are the top five answers:

#1 answer (a tie): “I’m my own boss” and “Ability to set my own schedule”

#3: “Variety of work”

#4 (tie): “Working from home” and “Satisfies my inner entrepeneur”

The least selected answer? “The lavish lifestyle!” Go figure.

Printers Row Lit Fest June 4-5

If you happen to be in the Chicago area this weekend, check out the Printers Row Lit Fest, formerly known as the Printers Row Book Fair. It is the largest free outdoor literary event in the Midwest. More than 125,000 book lovers are expected to attend the two-day showcase. And if you happen to be at Lit Fest on Sunday afternoon between 2:00 – 4:00, please stop by the Chicago Writers Association tent, where I will be signing copies of The Note, and talking with folks about the Note Project. (Tell me you read about Lit Fest on Freelance Zone and I’ll give you a free DVD!)

Mike O’Mary is author of The Note, a book about the power of appreciation and how a simple note can change a person’s life. He is also founder of the Note Project, and of Dream of Things, a book publisher and online bookstore.

I’ve written in the past about the pros and cons of being a freelancer. Let’s focus today on the “pros.”

Below is a simple, one-question survey. Please take a moment to select your top three choices for answers. If you have other answers not listed in the survey, please tell us about them in your comments.

I hope it won’t influence your answers if I share with you that what I like most is the lavish lifestyle. But probe a little deeper and the questions come a little harder. What do I like most about the lavish lifestyle…the buckets of caviar for breakfast…getting all spiffed up for yet another white-tie event for freelancers…or the simple act of watching my driver wax the Bentley while I’m sipping mimosas on the veranda? Tough questions with no easy answers.

But that’s a different survey. Let’s focus on the basics first. What do you like most about freelancing? You’ll be able to see the results to date as soon as you submit your answer.

In 2009, I started a book publishing company called Dream of Things. A month later, I started doing posts on Freelance-Zone. Since then, I’ve periodically shared thoughts and stories about publishing in this space that are different than what I share elsewhere. FZ sort of feels like home to me (or at least one of several “homes” on the Internet), so it’s nice to come here and kick off my shoes and talk about some of the behind-the-scenes stuff.

Most of the behind-the-scenes stuff is hard work done over a lot of hours. But I’m not going to rehash that today. Instead, I’m going to share some of the rewards of the hard work. What’s the payoff?

The past month was pretty good in terms of pay off, in emotional reward if not yet financially.

For example…

Dream of Things published a memoir called Everything I Never Wanted to Beby Dina Kucera. I read Dina’s manuscript in January 2010. I edited her book in the spring and released it in October 2010. Ten months is a ridiculously short amount of time from acceptance to release. It was a lot of work in a short period of time. The payoff this past month: Dina did a reading in Los Angeles in April, and several people expressed an interest in the movie rights. I’m bringing her to Chicago for book readings/signings in July. I hope we will be able to announce a movie deal between now and then.

On January 1, 2011, Dream of Things released a book about creative writing called MFA in a Boxby John Rember. John’s book didn’t require a lot of editing. It was more of an assembly job. He had the material — from craft talks given at the Pacific University MFA program over many years. We started talking about the book in 2009, then worked on it in earnest from May to December 2010. Again, a lot of hard work in a very short period of time. The payoff: Publishers got a “heads up” in April from several awards programs, many of which plan to announce official results at BookExpo America in New York the third week of May. I can’t reveal details yet, but I can tell you that MFA in a Boxwill be recognized by the judges of the Nautilus Awards, the Hoffer Awards, the Midwest Book Awards and possibly two others. Such awards are very gratifying emotionally, and they can help garner the attention to make a book a financial success, too.

The other “payoff” good news in April was about one of my own books. The Note is a book I wrote about the power of appreciation and how a simple note can change a person’s life. It’s the book behind the Note Project, a campaign to inspire 1 million people to write notes of appreciation. The Note Project launched on April 18, and I was very pleased to learn on April 21 that The Note has been named Best Gift Book of 2011 in the Living Now Book Awards.

So all in all, April was a pretty good month. I tell you all of this not to be boastful, but to remind you and myself that hard work does, in fact, pay off. We all know that, but we all also go through times where we wonder “what’s the point?’ and “is this worth the effort?” There have been many times in the past two years when I told myself I was nuts for starting a publishing company and doing all of the related work. But having people inquire about movie rights and having peers in the publishing industry recognize your work…that’s the kind of news that will keep you going for at least a couple of more years and several more books.

Two weeks ago, I gave you a behind-the-scenes look at the Note Project launch and all that a “launch” entails – in this case, a media tour, a blog tour, an “event,” sponsor promotions, etc.

The launch is in full swing now. In fact, the Note Project Telesummit is going on right now – April 18, 19 and 20. if you are reading this on the morning of April 20, there is still time for you to sign up and participate “live” at 2:00 p.m. central time. For more information, click HERE.

If you are reading this after April 20, it’s still not too late to sign up and get access to free replays of the Telesummit, which features ten best-selling authors and experts over three days discussing the Note Project and all aspects of appreciation in our lives.

I mentioned the Note Project and its launch two weeks ago because I believe the project holds special interest for writers. The project is about writing notes of appreciation, the launch is very similar to what authors are doing for book launches these days, and a share of proceeds from optional $1.00 Note Project Starter Kits will go to support literacy projects around the world. But there’s yet another reason for writers to check out the Note Project…

I’m inviting Note Project participants to share their notes and stories on the “Your Notes” section of the Note Project website. I believe sharing them will inspire even more people to write notes – and I plan to publish the best notes and stories in a book about the project. So by writing a note of appreciation, you can accomplish several things: you can let someone in your life know they are appreciated, you can inspire others to write notes, you will be supporting a project that is helping to promote literacy, AND you can get a publishing credit. For more information, visit the Note Project website.

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